SLOVAKIA: News digest: With EU funds in hand, Fico slams opposition as “anti-state” foes

Although Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer) is currently in China and no Slovak media is covering the trip, he has used social media to assert the necessity of taking action against the opposition for its alleged “anti-state activities”.

His statement comes on the same day that the European Commission confirmed the disbursement of a fourth payment of nearly €800 million to Slovakia from the recovery plan designed to help the country address challenges related to digital and green transformation, bolster its economy, and fund reforms following the coronavirus pandemic. Despite this payment arriving later due to the Commission’s concerns over the process of adopting amendments to criminal laws and Slovakia’s potential failure to protect EU funds following these changes, Fico hailed it as a “victory for his coalition” and a “defeat” for the opposition.

“The opposition is creating a permanent pressure on the EU institutions to withdraw European funds from Slovakia and to prevent it from accessing financial resources from the recovery plan. This constitutes anti-state activity by the opposition,” Fico claimed.

The opposition has rejected Fico’s assertion.

Fico noted that the opposition did not benefit from the European Commission’s report on the rule of law in Slovakia, published in the summer, which, according to the prime minister, the opposition and “opposition media” co-authored. The report criticises criminal law reforms that undermine the fight against corruption, the deteriorating environment for civil society organisations, and the government’s bypassing of stakeholders in reform discussions, among other things.

“The European Commission had to acknowledge the subjectivity of this report and take into account the objective information provided by the Slovak government from relevant sources,” Fico contended.

On October 31, the Slovak Justice Ministry announced it would begin discussions with the European Commission on how to amend the aforementioned report. Both the government and the Judicial Council, under new leadership, criticised the allegedly biased report in August.

On Thursday, Fico also launched an attack on former presidents Zuzana Čaputová and Andrej Kiska, whom he labelled as puppets. Kiska was legally convicted of tax fraud on the same day. Fico has repeatedly targeted both presidents during their terms. He described them as an “artificial product of anti-Slovak forces” implementing a “policy of a single mandatory opinion coming from the West”. According to Fico, who has embarked on a state visit to communist China and plans to visit two other communist countries (Cuba, Vietnam) and Moscow in 2025, his government must do everything possible to ensure that progressive media and foreign-funded NGOs do not succeed in the 2027 presidential election.

Last year, Fico announced plans to enact legislation against foreign-funded NGOs. Whether he will seek to establish a Sovereign Protection Authority similar to Hungary’s, aimed at harassing opponents, remains uncertain.

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